Withdraw 2% agri tax or we will intensify stir: Jamshedpur traders to govt

JAMSHEDPUR: Traders here have warned the state government that it should not go ahead with the new policy of implementing a 2% tax on all agricultural produce, reaching the markets, as it would be an extra burden on the consumers.
According to the traders in Steel City and other parts of Kolhan, the additional tax would hike the cost of agricultural products bought by consumers from all economic sections of society as the businessmen would pass on the rise in prices on them to keep their profit margin intact.Protesting against the agriculture bill, the traders under the umbrella of Singhbhum Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) on Saturday evening staged a demonstration blocking the traffic near the Bistupur main road and burnt the effigy of agriculture minister Badal Patralekh.
Similar demonstrations were conducted by various trading communities in Chaibasa and Seraikela-Kharsawan on Saturday.
SCCI president Vijay Anand Moonka said the Jharkhand State Agricultural Produce and Livestock Marketing Bill, 2022, which will levy the 2% tax, was passed by the assembly and sent to the governor for his ratification in March 2022. The governor, however, returned it with suggestions in May of the same year.
The bill was sent to the governor for the second time on December 24, 2022, and Raj Bhavan signed it on February 1, 2023.
Moonka further said, if the bill is implemented, agricultural products from neighbouring states West Bengal and Odisha would clandestinely flood the Jharkhand markets. A few corrupt state officials would mint money and nothing will go to the government’s coffers as tax. It would also spell doom for the state traders, who will follow the rule. He also said since no such trading tax exists in both West Bengal or Odisha, entry of the products would be through small pick-up vans from the border, which is hardly 60 km, and will not only put a dent in the business of the traders here but the government will also not get any tax. Moonka appealed to the consumers to join the fight against the bill as they are also going to be the losers if the tax is implemented.
The SCCI president also said when everyone, including the state government, is vouching for one nation, one tax formula in protest against the GST, the state dispensation is now making the lives of the people and the traders harder with the proposed law.
Uttam Mahato, a shopkeeper in the Sonari market, said, the consumers will ultimately suffer especially at a time when prices of all essential commodities in the post-Covid period have gone up.
The traders here have threatened to intensify their agitation and if required, they down their shutters from February 15 onwards, if the government does not withdraw the bill.